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Türükçä
Türükçä is a Turkic constructed language, based on the grammar and vocabulary of living Turkic languages. Due to the fact that it is based on natural languages, the very essence of it will be very natural. It will be developped until it turns to be a perfected auxilliary language facilitating mutual understanding among almost all Turkic peoples. To achieve this aim, Türükçä will make extensive use of commonalities among living and if needed dead Turkic languages in order to lay groundwork for establishing a common language for all Turkic peoples. Three groups of Turkic languages, Oghuz, Qarluq and Qipchaq are sources to feed the existence of this auxilliary language. The language may take years to develop, but it will be perfected to the utmost. To have an idea about what will make it speacial and what will make it recognized and possibly accepted as an auxilliary language, one must consider three Turkic language groups, Oghuz, Qypchaq and Qarluq together, and all expressive capabilities of the three combined. If process of perfection matures, 150 to 180 million Turkic people have access to a Turkic language that binds them all. Türükçä Alphabet Phonology Consonants Vowels Phonotactics Türükçä is an almost phonetic language, that is read as it is written. Each letter corresponds to either a consonant or a vowel and they are pronunced identically to the sound they represent. Türükçä sounds follow some phonotactical patterns that are never changeable. The very first rule to remember is that no native word in Türükçä can start with c, f, j, ğ, l, m, ñ, r, z and n which is an exception. Türükçä native word for question word "what" (Nemä) which is the only exception that starts with an "n" is a remnant of pre-Turkic Altaic language. Secondly, no native word starts with two consonants side by side. It is also a strict rule that n and b cannot be written side by side within a word except compound words or proper names. Other than the most initial rules described above, most influential rule for Türükçä is its vowel harmony. Vowel harmony is one of the most fundamental and important aspects of Türükçä grammar. Türükçä words definitely obey vowel harmony rule, even if root words are of foreign origin. More important than the words obeying this rule, there are ways this rule changes the vowels in the suffixes added to words. A good understanding of this rule is necessary to be able to use suffixes, hence to be able to make correct and meaningful sentences. The 9 vowels in the Türükçä alphabet are separated into two groups called back vowels and front vowels. There are 4 back vowels and 5 front vowels. Back vowels: a, ı, o, u Front vowels: ä, e, i, ö, ü Words of Türükçä origin definitely (always) have all back or all front vowels. This is the generalization that you will use for constructing Türükçä words and sentences. Words that back hard and front vowels together are said to violate the vowel harmony. A word that violates the major vowel harmony probably has been adopted from another language. A Türükçä word is either a back word or a front word depending on its last vowel. öy house is a front word since its last and only vowel, ö, is a front vowel. otun firewood is a back word since its last vowel, u, is a back vowel. bağçä garden which is a Persian loan is a front word since its last vowel, ä, is a front vowel. Türükçä vowel harmony states that: -Any suffix appended to a back word must have back vowels -Any suffix appended to a front word must have front vowels The only plural suffix in Türükçä is -lar and it is modified according to the last vowel of the word to which it is attached. It turns to be a -lär if the last vowel of the word to which it is attached is a front vowel, otherwise it remains its back vowel form. In accordance with the vowel harmony rule, plurals of öy, otun and bağçä becomes öylär (houses), otunlar ( firewoods) and bağçälär (gardens). For further explanations and details showing how to apply this rule, see grammar section. Grammar of Türükçä SOUND CHANGE PRODUCED IN THE STEM BY SUFFIXATION: There are a number of contexts where the addition of a suffix causes a change in the quality of the last consonant or vowel of a stem. Certain of these changes are confined to specific lexical items, whereas others occur as part of a general phonological process in the language. Those which occur only in certain words are: -A voiceless consonant alternating with its voiced counterpart, e.g. kitap ‘book’ but kitabım ‘my book’ -A single consonant alternating with its doubled counterpart, e.g. sır ‘secret’ but sırrım ‘my secret’ -A high vowel alternating with zero (i.e. absence of that vowel), e.g. burun ‘nose’ but burnum ‘my nose’ -A short vowel alternating with a long vowel, e.g. zaman ‘time’ but zamanım zama:nım ‘my time’ The changes which are part of a general phonological process are: -Final ‘k’ and ‘q’ alternating with ‘ğ’ in nominals, e.g. qonaq ‘guest’ but qonağım ‘my guest’ or biläk "wrist, ankle" but biläğim ‘my wrist, my ankle’. ALTERNATIONS OF VOICELESS/VOICED CONSONANTS: ‘p’/‘b’, ‘t’/‘d’, ‘k’/‘g’, ‘k’/‘ğ’, ‘ç’/‘c’ In some stems ending in one of the voiceless consonants ‘p’, ‘t’, ‘k’ and ‘ç’, this final consonant changes to its voiced counterpart before a suffix beginning with a vowel. ‘p’ is replaced by ‘b’ ‘t’ is replaced by ‘d’ ‘ç’ is replaced by ‘c’ ‘k’ is replaced by ‘ğ’ Some of these alternations take place in words borrowed from Arabic or Persian, where the word originally ends in a voiced consonant (‘b’, ‘d’, ‘g’ or ‘c’, as in kitab ‘book’). As Türükçä does not have any of these consonants in final position the final segment is devoiced in the bare form (hence kitap) or in syllable-final position (i.e. when followed by a suffix beginning with a consonant, e.g. kitapdan ‘from the book’). The original voiced consonant is retained when it is followed by a suffix beginning with a vowel (e.g.kitabım ‘my book’). Alternations in voiceless/voiced consonants also occur in many words of Türükçä origin. Note that only some of the words which in their bare form end in a voiceless consonant are subject to change. final ‘p’ → ‘b’ dolap ‘cupboard’ dolaba ‘to the cupboard’ cäp ‘pocket’ cäbim ‘my pocket’ final ‘t’ → ‘d’ kilit ‘lock’ kilidim ‘my lock’ qanat ‘wing’ qanadı ‘its wing’ ‘k and q’ alternate with ‘ğ’ yataq ‘bed’ yatağım ‘my bed’ terlik ‘slipper’ terliğim ‘my slipper’ keläcäk ‘future’ keläcäğim ‘my future’ Nouns of this form which have been borrowed in recent times from European languages do not normally undergo ‘k’/‘g’ alternation: tanq ‘tank’ tanqı ‘his/her/its tank’ banq ‘bank’ banqı ‘his/her/its bank’ There are certain categories to which alternations of voiceless/voiced consonants do not generally apply: Most monovocalic nominal roots are not subject to these changes: saç ‘hair’ saçım ‘my hair’ yük ‘load’ yükim ‘my load’ top ‘ball’ topım ‘my ball’ at ‘horse’ atım ‘my horse’ The vast majority of verbal roots are not subject to these changes. A verbal root such as qap- ‘snatch’ retains its final consonant in suffixation, hence qapıñ ‘snatch!’, although the identical-sounding nominal root qap ‘container’ reverts to its original voiced consonant when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added: qabıñ ‘your container’. Similarly the verb aq-‘flow’ retains its final consonant under suffixation (e.g. aquvçı ‘flowing’) but the adjective aq ‘white’ may not (cf. ağar- ‘become white’, but aqı ‘its white (part)’) ALTERNATIONS OF SINGLE CONSONANTS WITH DOUBLE CONSONANTS In a small number of nouns ending in ‘b’, ‘t’, ‘d’, ‘q’, ‘l’, ‘s’, ‘z’, ‘m’ and ‘n’ the final consonant is duplicated when a vowel is attached to it. These are words borrowed from Arabic, which, in their original roots, have geminates, i.e. doubled consonants. In Türükçä such words appear with a single consonant in their bare form or when followed by a suffix beginning with a consonant. xaq ‘right’ xaqlar ‘rights’ xaqqıñ ‘your right’ his ‘emotion’ hisdän ‘of the emotion’ hissiy ‘emotional’ sır ‘secret’ sırlar ‘secrets’ sırrımız ‘our secret’ xat ‘line’ xatlar ‘lines’ demiryolu xattı ‘railway line’ zıt ‘opposite’ zıtsa ‘if it’s the opposite’ zıddı ‘the opposite of it’ Some of these words keep their original double consonants when they combine with the auxiliaries et- ‘do’ : hiss et- ‘feel’, xaqq et- ‘deserve’ It should be noted that since bare stems do not give any indication that they end in geminates, such words have to be learned individually. TO BE CONTINUED... 'TÜRÜKÇÄ SÖZLÜK' Aq : White Aqmaq : To flow Aquvçı : Flowing, Fluid At : Horse Azärbaycança : Azerbaijani Language Banq : Bank Başqurtça : Bashkir Language Biläk : Wrist, Ankle Bolmaq : To be, To become Cäp (-b-) : Pocket Çıvaşça : Chuvash Language Dolap (-b-) : Cupboard, Wardrobe Etmäk : To do, to make His (-ss-) : Emotion, Feeling Hiss etmäk : To feel Hissiy : Emotional Xaq (-qq-) : Right Xaqq etmäk : To deserve Xat (-tt-) : Line Keläcäk (-ğ-) : Future Kilit (-d-) : Lock Kitap (-b-) : Book Qap : Container Qapmaq : To snatch Qazaqça : Kazakh Language Qırğızça : Kyrgyz Language Özbekçä : Uzbek Language Saç : Hair Saqaça : Yakut Language Sır (-rr-) : Secret Tanq : Tank Tatarça : Tatar Language Terlik (-ğ-) : Slipper Top : Ball Töbät : Tibet Töşäk (-ğ-) : Bed Türk : Turkish Türkçä : Turkish Language, Turkish Türük : Turkic Türükçä : Turkic Language, Turkic Uyğurça : Uyghur Language Yataq (-ğ-) : Bed Yük : Load, Burden Zaman : Time Zıt (-dd-) : Opposite Example text Category:Languages Category:Turkic conlangs